And Jaclyn Smith as Victoria Winters

[Stuart]

Betsy Durkin obviously wasn't well received by the production team -- given the lag between writing, taping and airing, it's very unlikely it was a decision based on viewer reaction, even though that's often the reason cited.  Poor girl -- she was hopelessly miscast and was never going to overcome that.

Groves was ideal -- she looked and sounded like the character outline already established, with a more intelligent, measured performance than Alexandra Moltke.  Too bad that her stint was an effective tying up of loose ends and that there was never a question of her staying on in the role

[jennifer]

i think either would have been a fine replacement
for Vicki and i'm with you Robin can't even watch Charlie's angels unless it is the one with John Karlen!

jennifer

[ClaudeNorth]

Such a fun thread!

Although I am a fan of both Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson, I feel that Kate would have made the better Vicki, as her persona is more down-to-earth than Jaclyn's.  (BTW, I must take a moment to defend "Charlie's Angels."  IMHO, it is one of the all-time great TV series.)

I was also intrigued by Maria Merriweather's suggestions of Mia Farrow and, especially, Geraldine Chaplin.  I have long been a fan of GC, thanks to her performances in such films as NASHVILLE and REMEMBER MY NAME.  I don't know if I see her as Vicki, but she definitely would have made a strong contribution to DS in any role she played.

<LOL>  Now I'm imagining GC in her NASHVILLE role (Opal, the BBC reporter) on DS:  "Hello!  Mrs. Stoddard?  I'm Opal from the BBC!  I'm doing a documentary on Collinsport!"

Regards,

John (who, with all due respect to Joan Bennett, still fantasizes about Joan Crawford being cast as La Liz...)

[Linda]

PS - I love Maria_Merriweather's suggestion of Mia Farrow, as a contemporary of A.M., being capable of playing Victoria Winters.

I really like that suggestion, too!  As an added plus, there was a certain resemblance in their facial features.

However, I also think Jaclyn Smith would have played the role capably -- she displayed the same quiet charm as Moltke and she didn't overact the way Betsy Durkin did.  I absolutely loathed Durkin from the moment she opened her mouth.  I don't remember A.M. ever wailing to excess as Vicki, and yet shrieking, wailing, and hand-wringing were the staples of Durkin's performances.

Blech!

Cheers,

Linda

[jennifer]

The Icky Vicki was pretty bad ! still trying to picture Mia as Vicki!

jennifer

[Raholt]

Actually, what I think is that Dan Curtis was holding out hope of getting Alexandra Moltke back as Victoria Winters, following her pregnacy.  She has stated that she was approached about returning, but she did not want to return as Victoria.  She felt the character was too boxed in and she wanted to stretch as an actress.  My feeling is that they were never truely looking for a replacement for Alexandra, only a stand in.  When it couldn't work out for Alexandra to return, then they decided it was best to just end the Victoria Winters character, but in a way that truely always left the door open to bring her back if Alexandra changed her mind.  

Dark Shadows is one of those soaps that never had alot of luck with replacing original actors in roles, once the show got going.  Yes, Sam Evans was replaced after only a couple of weeks with the man who most people know as Sam and the character of Willie was replaced after only a few episodes with John Karlen, but in both cases the characters were replaced before they were established.  The replacement of Burke Devlin by Anthony George is an example of it just not working.  While I like George in the role, perhaps better than Mitch Ryan, he just did not click and was soon written out.  The only other character that I can think of that was replaced after a short stint anyway was the Harry Johnson character and that was only for a show or two and then that character was gone.   Fans of the show related very strongly to the same actors playing the same parts.  They would buy them playing other roles in other time periods but not other actors playing the same roles.  They were as devoted to the actors as their characters and thus they were not as interchangable as was the case in other soaps.

Raholt